BY MATTHEW WILSON
FOLLOWING nearly 50 years of service with the club, Tommy Dullaghan has stepped back from his role as matchday steward at Finn Park and will now adjust to life from a different vantage point as a spectator.
Dullaghan will be a recognised character by many match-going Finn Harps supporters, being an ever-present figure stewarding at the Finn Park tunnel over the past three decades.
He’s occupied various roles at the club including being part of the supporters club, the management board as well as someone who regularly drove players to away matches.
This all started from a meeting at Jackson’s Hotel in Ballybofey where he joined the management board, a position he would fulfill until 1996.
“Charlie McHugh who’s still involved, he’s in his eighties now, took me around to a meeting in Jackson’s Hotel as a member of the supporters club onto the management board.
“I would’ve been on the management board up until 1996, my late wife passed away that same year and we got promotion that year also.
“I then said that I’m stepping away from the club but I said that I will do stewarding so I’ve been stewarding there since the start of the 1996 season.”
Dullaghan would have worked with a lot of different people during his years of service at the Navenney Street club but one individual he struck up a real connection with was Ronan Roddy.
Ronan sadly passed away in 2023 and was held in high regard by many people, with Tommy being one of them, describing him as a great character.
“I lost my wee friend Ronan Roddy. Myself and Ronan did that gate for years, I think Ronan was on it for over twenty, Myself and him were very good friends and it was like losing one of my own family when he passed away.
“His family have been very nice to me as well because they knew what we meant to one another. He was a great kid Ronan and nobody stepped over him.”
During his 30 years of volunteering on the tunnel gate, Dullaghan has seen many high quality players grace the Finn Park pitch in his day and discussed some of the most famous to put on a Finn Harps shirt in the form of Paddy McCourt and Brendan Bradley.
Former Celtic star McCourt signed for Finn Harps in 2017 and went on to have two good campaigns for Twin Towns side while Brendan Bradley scored an outstanding 181 goals over three different spells at the club.
“I’ve seen a lot of goals and a lot of famous players. Two of the most famous Finn Harps players in my time would’ve been the Derry Pele, Paddy McCourt who was a brilliant player and a brilliant fella to talk to.
“The other one is Brendan Bradley. Brendan Bradley is always a gentleman, he always stops to say hello to me whenever he’s in Finn Park, the same as Jim Sheridan and the older players.”
As well as impressive players, there were also famous managers and none more so than the late Ollie Horgan who showed an abundance of class both in the dugout and away from the pitch.
Horgan, who managed Finn Harps for nine years, left a huge legacy behind him at the club where he connected with so many people and Dullaghan described him as a ‘gentleman’.
“You probably get back from players what you give them, they’re always very respectful as well as away managers.
“There was a picture of myself and Ollie (Horgan) chatting when he came back with Galway for the first time after leaving Finn Harps.
“Ronan (Roddy) was gone at that stage but one of the last visitors that Ronan had was Ollie, the day he died. He was a gentleman and that’s what we were talking about in that photo.
“Ollie did what he could for Finn Harps, he was a great manager and probably the best manager that I’ve seen there.
“Kevin (McHugh) is going well there and hopefully Kevin can be just as successful. He’s working with a lot of younger players there so hopefully he can be just as successful as Ollie was.”
Despite stepping away from his role as stewarding, Tommy will still very much be behind the club and support the side from a different vantage point as a spectator at Finn Park.
With Kevin McHugh at the helm and a whole host of talented youngsters within the group, there is reason for optimism as the side prepares for the 2026 campaign.
Dullaghan feels that the recent achievement which saw Josh Cullen, Gavin McAteer and Corey Sheridan jet off to the FIFA Under-17 World Cup with Ireland displays that young players are capable of coming through the ranks and enjoy success within the county.
“There definitely is. It’s absolutely brilliant to have seen three lads from the Academy out there playing in the Under-17 World Cup. It’s great now to see that young players can be brought along in Donegal within the Finn Harps Academy and onto Senior level, even at a young age.
To conclude, Tommy wanted to thank his partner Annie who he expressed showed great patience while he committed his services to Finn Harps on a Friday night.
Dullaghan will be missed at the tunnel on matchday but he will certainly remain a familiar figure around the ground as the club gear towards the 2026 season.
“I always loved the club, all of my family are Finn Harps mad as well. My late wife brought me to my first game back in 1969.
“As a final word, I’d like to thank my partner Annie for her patience when I’m away on a Friday night and she’s in the house so I’d like to thank her.”
